Our practice has a full primary health care team. We always aim to provide the highest quality of health care and services to our patients and their carers and to value and develop our staff.

As a patient you will have contact with our doctors and many other members of the team.

The doctors and staff at this practice are committed to providing high quality healthcare and services to patients.

If you have a complaint or concern about the service you have received from the practice, please let us know. We operate a practice complaints procedure as part of the NHS system for dealing with complaints. The complaints system meets national criteria.

How to complain

It is best to tell a member of staff about any concerns or problems as soon as they arise and we will try and sort them out. If you’re not satisfied with our response or wish to escalate your concern, please ask for complaints form and a copy of our complaints procedure.

If you wish to make a complaint, please let us have details of your complaint as soon as possible so that we can find out what happened. It helps us if you can give us as full details as possible.

You can either complain to us directly about the service provided or to the commissioner of the services (South East London Integrated Care Board – [email protected]), which is the body that pays for the NHS services you use. The responsibility for investigating any issue arising from a complaint remains with the practice that provided the service to you.

You need to make your complaint within 12 months of the incident that caused the problem OR within 12 months of discovering that you have a problem relating to a specific incident.

What we will do

We will contact you about your complaint within 3 working days and discuss with you the best way to investigate it, including the time scales for a reply. We will aim to offer you an explanation within that time frame, or a meeting with the people involved.

We will look into your complaint to:

• Find out what happened and what went wrong
• Make it possible for you to discuss the problem with those concerned, if you would like this
• Apologise where this is appropriate
• Identify what we can do to make sure the problem does not happen again

Complaining on behalf of someone else

Medical records are protected by the Data Protection Act 1998. If you are complaining on behalf of someone else we need to know that you have their permission to do so. A note signed by the person concerned will be needed, unless they are incapable (i.e. due of illness) of providing this.

Getting help

Many issues can be resolved quickly by speaking directly to the staff. Some people find it helpful to talk to someone who understands the complaints process first and get some guidance and support.

POhWER can provide free impartial support when you are making a complaint. They can help to draft or write a letter, can arrange interpreting or can accompany you to a meeting. Their telephone number is 0203 553 5960 and website is www.pohwer.net

If you are not satisfied with our response

If your problem persists or you’re not happy with the way your complaint has been dealt with locally, you can complain to the relevant ombudsman.

Remember:

• We want you to let us know if you are unhappy or have a suggestion about how we can do things better.
• All complaints are treated in the strictest confidence.
• Making a complaint will not affect your treatment or care.

When you register with us we create a new health record for you and obtain your past health records from your previous GP practice. We make every effort to keep your information confidential and secure. You have the right to see your health records, though there may be a charge.

The primary health care team (including doctors, nurses, health visitors, district nurses, midwives, managers and support staff) use your information to provide healthcare and administer the practice. We share information with other people involved in your care, such as hospital doctors.

We use your information to help us improve the type and quality of service that we offer and we provide information to the NHS for financial and monitoring purposes. We use personal information to assist in teaching medical and nursing students. Information from health records is sometimes used for research purposes, although details that could identify a patient will not be removed from the premises.

All telephone calls to and from the practice are recorded and may be monitored for training and quality purposes.

Patients occasionally request NHS prescriptions for treatment that has been recommended following a private consultation.

In certain cases it may be appropriate to prescribe your medication as a NHS prescription, but the South East London prescribing policy that is applied to all our NHS prescriptions will be followed.

This policy is to ensure that the patient receives the best care by the most appropriate and safe means.

If your consultant prescribes a medication that falls outside a licensed indication or is outside the local recommendations on prescribing, your consultant will need to provide you with a private prescription, which you will be able to take to any community pharmacy for dispensing.

You will have to pay a charge for the medicines on this prescription even if you are normally exempt. This only happens on a few occasions, but it is in your interest that you are aware of this possibility before a private consultation.

NHS prescribers are under NO obligation to continue any medicine initiated privately.

When a GP prescribes a medicine, they take responsibility for that treatment and as such need to ensure a process for follow up and monitoring.

This is not always possible if the patient is seen by a consultant privately. Especially if there is limited follow up or the condition is not one that the GP has extensive experience in treating.

The surgery provides an accessible entrance and bathrooms for wheelchair users.

What GDPR means for patients

The GDPR sets out the key principles about processing personal data, for staff or patients:

• Data must be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently
• It must be collected for specific, explicit and legitimate purposes
• It must be limited to what is necessary for the purposes for which it is processed
• Information must be accurate and kept up to date
• Data must be held securely
• It can only be retained for as long as is necessary for the reasons it was collected

There are also stronger rights for patients regarding the information that practices hold about them. These include patients:

• Informed about how their data is used
• Being able to have access to their own data
• Being able to ask to have incorrect information changed
• Being able to restrict how their data is used
• Being able to move their patient data from one health organisation to another
• Having the right to object to their patient information being processed (in certain circumstances)

What is GDPR

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulations and is a piece of legislation that superseded the Data Protection Act. It not only applies to the UK and EU; it covers anywhere in the world in which data about EU citizens is processed.

The GDPR is similar to the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 (which the practice already complies with), but strengthens many of the DPA’s principles. The main changes are:

• Practices must comply with subject access requests
• Where we need your consent to process data, this consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous
• There are new, special protections for patient data
• The Information Commissioner’s Office must be notified within 72 hours of a data breach
• Higher fines for data breaches – up to 20 million euros

What is ‘Patient Data’?

Patient data is information that relates to a single person, such as his/her diagnosis, name, age, earlier medical history etc.

What is Consent?

Consent is permission from a patient – an individual’s consent is defined as “any freely given specific and informed indication of his wishes by which the data subject signifies his agreement to personal data relating to him being processed.”

The changes in GDPR mean that we must get explicit permission from patients when using their data. This is to protect your right to privacy, and we may ask you to provide consent to do certain things, like contact you or record certain information about you for your clinical records.

Individuals also have the right to withdraw their consent at any time.

The average pay for GPs working in Vanbrugh Group Practice in the last financial year was £67,178 before tax and National Insurance.

This is for 17 part time GPs who worked in the practice for more than six months.

NHS England want to share some of the information held by your GP practice with other NHS services to help plan and improve services. They have produced a leaflet to explain what information they will be collecting and how it will be used and a list of questions and answers. You can find both of these documents below.

If you do not want your information to be shared please Contact the Practice and let one of the receptionists know. We can then put a code on your records to stop any information being downloaded to HSCIC (Health & Social Care Information Centre). If you have no objections to your information being shared with HSCIC, but you do not wish this information to then be shared (by them) with any other service we can put a code on your records to stop that happening.

Further Information

• Information Sharing Leaflet
• Information Sharing FAQ

COVID-19 Data Sharing for Health and Social Care in South East London

Please read the Privacy Notice on the Our Healthier South East London website.

What is London Care Record?

In the past, health and social care workers from the local organisations involved in your care did not have a system in place to share important information about your care automatically. This meant that GPs, hospital staff, district nurses, occupational therapists, and others involved in your care did not always have immediate access to all the information needed to provide timely and efficient care.

To address this, the London Care Record local electronic record system was launched. London Care Record allows important information about you to be shared securely so that it can be viewed quickly and safely by staff directly involved in your care, such as GPs, hospital staff, district nurses, occupational therapists and social workers. This will enable them to make more informed decisions about your care and treatment.

Do I Have a Choice?

Yes. To find out what your options are, please visit the London Care Record website: www.lewishamandgreenwich.nhs.uk/london-care-record.

Where can I Find Out More About London Care Record?

For more information, please visit the London Care Record website: www.lewishamandgreenwich.nhs.uk/london-care-record.

Vanbrugh Group Practice is a member of Our Healthier South East London (OHSEL).

Our Healthier South East London, the south east London integrated care system, brings together local health and care organisations and local councils to design care and improve population health through shared leadership and collective action.

You can find more information on their website: www.ourhealthiersel.nhs.uk/about

Please read the privacy notice on the OHSEL website: www.ourhealthiersel.nhs.uk/privacy-notice

Primary Care Networks (PCNs) are a key part of the NHS Long Term Plan, with all general practices being required to be in a network. This practice is part of the Blackheath and Charlton Primary Care Network.

Blackheath and Charlton is made up of a number GP Practices created to work collaboratively to ensure the health care system within our area works effectively by sharing knowledge and resources.

As part of the PCN Network Contract DES, Blackheath and Charlton PCN will be delivering an Enhanced Access service that offers wider access to routine primary care services between the hours of 6:30-8pm on Weekdays and 9am-5pm on Saturdays.

The following services will be provided as part of Enhanced Access:

• All core Primary Care services
• Same Day GP Bookings
• Advance GP Bookings
• Minor Illness
• Wound Care
• Screening e.g. Smears
• Immunisation e.g. Childhood immunisations, Flu
• Long-Term Conditions e.g. Diabetes prevention, COPD
• Health and Wellbeing e.g. Health checks, Baby checks
• Sexual Health e.g. Screening, Contraceptive advice
• Social Prescribing

All registered patients have availability of the appointment slots across the network.

Access will be provided to NHS 111 to make use of any unused ‘on the same day’ slots within the service hours.

To enable us to provide our Enhanced Access Service to you, GPs from other local practices will at times have access to your full GP record but only when providing direct care to you.

People who have access to your information will only normally have access to that which they need to fulfil their roles, for instance admin staff will normally only see your name, address, contact details, appointment history and registration details in order to book appointments, the practice nurses will normally have access to your immunisation, treatment, significant active and important past histories, your allergies and relevant recent contacts whilst the GP you see or speak to will normally have access to everything in your record.

Greenwich PCN Alliance Ltd will be providing all organisational support for this service. Note this does not include the provision of clinical hours, treatment or staff.

Controller contact details

(Main Site)
Blackheath Standard Surgery
11-13 Charlton Rd
London
SE3 7EU

The Fairfield Practice
Fairfield Grove
London
SE7 8TX

Vanbrugh Group Practice
2 Greenwich Centre
Greenwich Square Health Centre
12 Lambarde Square
London
SE10 9GB

Manor Brook Medical Centre
117 Brook Ln
London
SE3 0EN

Data Protection Officer contact details

Danielle Gibbons
GP Data Protection Officer
[email protected]

Purpose of the processing

To provide our patients with direct care.

The Lawfulness Conditions and Special Categories

The processing of personal data in the delivery of direct care and for providers’ administrative purposes in this surgery and in support of direct care elsewhere  is supported under the following Article 6 and 9 conditions of the GDPR:

• Article 6(1)(e) ‘…necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority…’.
• Article 9(2)(h) ‘necessary for the purposes of preventative or occupational medicine for the assessment of the working capacity of the employee, medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems and services…”

We will also recognise your rights established under UK case law collectively known as the “Common Law Duty of Confidentiality”^*

Recipient or categories of recipients of the shared data

The data will be shared with:

(Main Site)
Blackheath Standard Surgery

The Fairfield Practice

Vanbrugh Group Practice

Manor Brook Medical Centre

Rights to object

You have the right under Article 21 of the GDPR to object to your personal information being processed. Please contact the Practice if you wish to object to the processing of your data. You should be aware that this is a right to raise an objection which is not the same as having an absolute right to have your wishes granted in every circumstance.

GP Practices process personal data under Article 6(1)(c) on a lawful and legitimate basis where the organisation is obliged under law to comply with

• The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)
• The Freedom of Information Act
• The NHS Constitution
• The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009

By complying with these laws, the Practice has compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms in the right to object.

Right to access and correct

Under GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have the right to see or be given a copy of any personal data we hold about you. To gain access to a copy of your information, you will need to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) to the practice.

You also have the right to have incorrect data held about you corrected.

Retention period

The data will be retained for the period as specified in the national NHS records retention schedule.

Right to Complain

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, you can do this online at www.ico.org.uk/global/contact-us or calling their helpline on 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate).

There are National Offices for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, (see ICO website).

If you need a private examination please ring the surgery on 0333 332 7300 to book an appointment clearly stating that you need a private examination. This will allow the receptionist to book your appointment with the most appropriate doctor and advise you what you need to bring to the appointment.

For more information on the fees we charge, please view our Private Fees Information Sheet.

We expect patients:

• To treat our doctors and all practice staff with courtesy and respect.
• To inform the practice immediately if you change your address, name or telephone number. You can do this online by completing the Change Personal Details form.
• To take responsibility for your own health and that of your children.
• To take the advice given to you at the practice.
• To contact the surgery before 11:00 for a home visit required during that day. View the Home Visits page for more information on this.
• To let us know if you are unable to keep an appointment. You can let us know online by completing the Cancel an Appointment form.
• To see your medical records, please ask a member of staff.  A fee may be payable.

You can expect the practice:

• To treat you with courtesy and respect at all times.
• To honour your religious and cultural beliefs.
• To answer the telephone promptly and courteously.
• To provide you with information about your own health and for the promotion of good health.
• To give you a time to see the doctor in accordance with the system used in the practice.
• To provide a home visit when requested and if the doctor feels that you are not well enough to come to the surgery.

Our staff have a right to do their work in a safe environment free from violent, threatening and abusive behaviour. If you do not respect the rights of our staff we may choose to inform the police and make arrangements for you to be removed from our medical list.

The practice does not provide services for patients with a history of, and ongoing risk of violence.

What is it?

The Summary Care Record is a summary of basic health information about you that healthcare professionals can access to inform the care that they provide. They will ask your permission each time before they do this, unless this isn’t possible, e.g. if you are unconscious. The information on the Summary Care Record will include basic details including allergies and medication.

It is possible to opt out of this service. However, there will be important benefits to the Summary Care Record, so it’s important to find out more if you are thinking of opting out.

Find out more

For further details visit www.nhscarerecords.nhs.uk where you can also download an opt out form.

Safeguarding confidential patient information is the responsibility of all NHS staff. Vanbrugh Group Practice will ensure that your confidentiality is respected and maintained at all times in the following ways:

• Confidentiality means that when you see a doctor or nurse at the practice for any health issue, including sexual health, the doctor or nurse will not share the information you give them with anyone else, provided we think you are ‘competent to consent’ to the treatment (competent to consent means that you are fully capable of understanding the treatment and any possible consequences).
• Doctors and nurses seeing young people for sexual health information, advice or treatment will ask you if you wish to inform a parent, carer or other trusted adult. However, if you do not wish to inform an adult, we will respect your wishes and still offer you treatment.
• A doctor, nurse or other health professional may only break confidentiality if they think that you or someone else is at significant risk of harm. However, they will not break confidentiality without informing you first. This means that if you see a doctor or nurse at the practice for personal issues, sexual health information and advice, contraception, screening for sexually transmitted infections (STI’s), or information and referral for abortion we will see you, even if you are under 16, without having to inform your parents or carers.